2 cops recovering after violent crash

San Diego  Two San Diego police officers who were injured in a violent crash with a speeding pickup Thursday are recovering at home and feeling lucky to be alive.

Officer Tim Bell, the passenger, suffered a concussion and an injury to his right leg, and Officer Mike Healey, the driver, had injuries to his left arm and lower back. They are assigned to Mid-City Division and have been on the force for less than five years.

“A split second difference where the truck hit the side of the police car, and it would’ve been a different story,” said San Diego Assistant Police Chief Boyd Long.

With luck apparently on his side, Healey told Long that he bought $20 in lottery tickets after being released from the hospital.

The driver of the gray GMC pickup, Robert Jose O’Connell, 30, of San Diego, remains hospitalized in a medically-induced coma due to a serious head injury, Long said. He is expected to survive.

The officers first tried to pull over the pickup after they saw it going the wrong way on 43rd Street near Landis Street about 4:30 a.m. Thursday. But the truck sped off and the officers lost sight of it.

The officers were trying to find it again, slowly driving west on Orange Avenue when the driver ran the stop sign at Altadena Avenue at about 50 mph, smashing into the right side of the patrol car, police said.

Just before impact, the truck, which had its lights off, hit a bump and went airborne, which slowed its speed. The force ripped off the patrol car’s right front tire and sheared off the hood.

Firefighters had to pry open the passenger’s side door to remove one of the officers, who was knocked unconscious. The other was able to get out by himself.

The truck spun out of control and crashed into several parked cars in front of the Park Gardens apartments. About 15 parked vehicles were damaged, some by flying debris.

O’Connell, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the wreckage and was found unconscious on the ground.

Court records show O’Connell was convicted in 2002 and 2005 for auto theft and was sentenced to two years in prison for the second offense.